Prosecutor Probing NYAG Hit With Bar Complaint for "Potentially Illegal Conduct"The subject of the complaint is Trump's man in Albany: John Sarcone, who is now targeting the New York AG who won a half-billion dollar verdict against his boss.Written by Adam Klasfeld. For more legal reporting from Adam, follow All Rise News on Substack by clicking here.
Despite having no prosecutorial experience, and having spent most of his term mired in scandal, Donald Trump’s top prosecutor in Albany John Sarcone has the qualifications this White House prizes most: fealty to the president and a willingness to go after his enemies. Sarcone’s investigation against one of Trump’s longtime targets, New York Attorney General Letitia James, went public on Friday, but Sarcone may not have his own house in order, according to a recent bar complaint accusing him of “potentially illegal conduct.” Editor’s Note: It is an honor to be able to share Adam Klasfeld’s fearless reporting with you on the Meidas+ Substack. Remember to subscribe to All Rise News on Substack for more for accountability journalism from Adam that takes you inside the courtroom.
“In just the four months since he was initially sworn in as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Mr. Sarcone has engaged in erratic and potentially illegal conduct,” the bar complaint, filed on Wednesday by the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability, states. A staunch MAGA loyalist, Sarcone used to work for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and he is earning a reputation as a Trump hatchet man. In 2023, Sarcone wrote that then-President Joe Biden should be tried for “treason,” and his investigation into Attorney General James involves two of Trump’s grievances: the half-billion dollar civil fraud verdict against Trump and a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association. “Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,” a spokesperson for James wrote in a statement. “We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.” Whether Sarcone has the authority to open any investigation remains an open question: Last month, the judges of his district refused to extend Sarcone’s term, and Trump’s Justice Department unilaterally kept Sarcone in office, without Senate or judicial approval, by giving him a new title: “special attorney.” Watch the All Rise News video breakdown below. “Feared for my life”In June, Sarcone had a troubling encounter with an undocumented immigrant named Saul Morales-Garcia outside a Hilton Hotel in Albany. In Sarcone’s telling, Morales-Garcia “charged” at him with a knife and tried to murder him. “I feared for my life but I couldn’t let this individual harm and potentially kill others,” Sarcone wrote in an official press release announcing Morales-Garcia’s attempted murder charge. Unlike traditional U.S. Attorney press releases, the announcement of Morales-Garcia’s charges had no mention of the presumption of innocence, and Sarcone went on a national press blitz about the encounter. Sarcone dramatically recreated the encounter on Fox and Friends, and he regaled his local TV stations about Morales-Garcia’s rap sheet. “Now this individual, ok, had been deported in 2010,” Sarcone told a press gaggle. “I’m not gonna say what the crime was because it’s horrific, but it was of moral turpitude. You could look that up.” According to Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, Morales-Garcia was convicted of petit larceny before his 2010 deportation. Sarcone blamed Morales-Garcia’s return to the United States on Biden’s “open borders” policy, but Homeland Security says Morales-Garcia reentered the country at an “unknown date” between April 2010 and December 2021, a time frame that could include the four years of Trump’s first term. Other elements of Sarcone’s story didn’t add up: Albany Times Union published the surveillance video of Sarcone’s encounter with Morales-Garcia, who could be seen brandishing a knife from a distance. The footage hardly showed a visual record of a brush with death. “At no time does the video show Mr. Morales-Garcia anywhere near Mr. Sarcone; he is yelling at him from a distance,” the bar complaint notes. Authorities dropped the attempted murder charge against Morales-Garcia, who received a 90-day sentence for a single count of misdemeanor menacing on July 3. Less than two weeks later, the Board of Judges serving for the Albany-based Northern District of New York declined to extend Sarcone’s term. “NO TRESPASSING”Sarcone’s tenure got more tangled from there. The Albany Times Union noticed a remarkable detail in Sarcone’s sworn deposition to the sheriff’s office about his encounter with Morales-Garcia: an address, which reporters visited only to find a boarded up house. Under federal law, U.S. Attorneys must reside in the districts in which they serve, and local NBC station WNYT broadcast images of the “NO TRESPASSING” sign on the plywood-blockaded entrance. Sarcone claimed that the property had been fully renovated inside and connected the Times Union to Westchester-based developer Steve Sabba, the mortgage holder of the property. Sabba, identified in the article as a former client of Sarcone’s private law practice, told the newspaper that the apartment was delayed because of “supply chain” issues resulting from Trump’s tariffs. When the Times Union sought to verify the account, Sabba accused the paper of preparing a “hit piece.” Sabba had been convicted of felony tax fraud on two separate occasions, the paper noted.
Sarcone removed the Times Union, the New York capital’s paper of record, from the Northern District of New York’s media distribution list after their investigation. The Campaign for Accountability described the paper’s “blacklisting” as an abuse of power. The group’s bar complaint accuses Sarcone of violating several ethics rules, including one barring “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York did not respond to an email requesting comment. A nationwide trendA former 2016 Trump campaign lawyer, Sarcone is just one example of a nationwide trend of MAGA U.S. Attorneys remaining in office after judges refused to extend their terms.
Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba became an interim appointee for the District of New Jersey before the Justice Department anointed her as a “special attorney” through a similar mechanism. The Campaign for Accountability also filed a bar complaint against Habba in June. Legal experts warn that Trump’s insisting on keeping loyalists in charge of the U.S. Attorney positions across the country without Senate or judicial approval could risk compromising cases. In New Jersey, two federal criminal defendants charged with drug and firearm offenses recently won the opportunity to argue that Habba should be disqualified from prosecuting them because she was appointed illegally. The men, Julien Giraud Jr. and Julien Giraud III, lost their bid to dismiss their indictment altogether because they were indicted months after her appointment. It is unclear whether defendants who were indicted after Habba became “special attorney” would have been more successful. “Because this is unprecedented, it is hard to evaluate the risk to the DOJ,” said Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor in the District of New Jersey. “Defendants (civil and criminal) will make motions to dismiss cases on the grounds that the person purporting to be the U.S. Attorney is not properly in that seat.” At least four Trump loyalists across the country have extended U.S. Attorney terms without Senate confirmation, including Habba in New Jersey, Sarcone in northern New York, Sigal Chattah in the District of Nevada, and Bill Essayli in the Central District of California. The legitimacy of Habba’s extended term heads toward a reckoning soon. Oral arguments are slated for Aug. 15. Read the bar complaint in full here.
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COMMENTS:
Part of this story underlines the importance of still having local newspapers whose reporters know their communities. "The Albany Times Union noticed a remarkable detail in Sarcone’s sworn deposition to the sheriff’s office about his encounter with Morales-Garcia: an address, which reporters visited only to find a boarded up house." The TU didn't disclose the specific address, stating that they refrained from doing so because Sarcone said he intends to live there, but the reporter apparently knew Albany's neighborhoods well enough to question whether the address was where a U.S. Attorney would be likely to live. Additional detail in this story: https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/u-s-attorney-albany-lists-boarded-up-building-20386848.php
thank you so much for the link, which I put into the category of "If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. . ."!
Some of the quotes in it are a total hoot - the "builder" Capone - sorry, Sarcone, is using, Steve Sabba on being pressed to provide photos of the "renovations" :
"I hope you are not attempting to use this as a smear campaign against John whose entire family I know well (they are very honorable people) as that would greatly tarnish (the Times Union’s) reputation and reduce it to the likes of a tabloid,” Sabba wrote in an email on Tuesday, just hours after offering to send the photos. “I KNOW MANY, MANY PEOPLE AT FOX AND SUCH ACTION WOULD INDUCE ME TO PEN AN OP-ED IN THE NEW YORK POST (my caps) noting how this 'hit piece' seemingly superseded actual news, considering all that is currently transpiring in New York, in America and worldwide, a viewpoint that would rival even the biased trash seen on The View. Please do not place me in a position to feel compelled to resort to any of this; we, as humans, are better that that,” he added.
Now, this is a talented man - tax lawyer, builder, writer for the NY Post! Nice to know he knocks around with such "honorable" people - I know "honor " is a big thing in some New York families. . .
Talk about "Tell me what you are without telling me what you are."
The GOP Congress most likely think Trump will pardon them when they are sentenced. Before the end of his second term ends, Trump will be living in a home for people suffering from Dementia. Most likely won't even remember his family members.
They'll probably not visit him either.
L James would make one hell of a U S Attorney General I think. I agree with Trump and his corrupt Attorneys not being seated. They must be take out of off. But first we must work together to remove TRUMP. WE CANT ALLOW HIS CRAP TO GO UNNOTICED LIKE IT JUST TRUMP NO WE HAVE TO WATCH EVERY, and all his moves. Thats not all. EVERY SINGLE STATE THAT CHOSES TO CHEAT/GERRYMANDER THEIR DISTRICTS BLUE STATES MUST DOUBLE DOWN ON THEM. TRUMP WILL DO ANYTHING TO REMOVE JASMINE CROCKETT HE HATES HER LIKE HARRIS AND PELOSI. EVER WONDER WHY? THEIR SMART THAN TRUMP WILL EVER BE HE HATES IT.
SO FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE CORRUPTION IN TEXAS NEEDS EXPOSED ITS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. SORRY I GOT OFF TOPIC. I GET SO ANGRY 😡
None of this is surprising. I'm happy you brought this to our attention. This sort of behavior from the orange menace regime is typical of a king/dicktator. Things are going to get way worse until this regime is removed from office.
you’re right man this isn’t surprising. But here’s the thing… we keep treating “not surprising” like it means “not dangerous,” and that’s how these guys get away with this mess.
What MeidasTouch just laid out isn’t just the orange menace acting like a king/dicktator…it’s him quietly rewiring the justice system with handpicked loyalists who couldn’t get Senate or judicial approval if their lives depended on it. We’re talking Alina Habba in Jersey, John Sarcone in New York, people whose résumés read like, “Will prosecute enemies, will travel.”
And Sarcone? Man’s supposed to be the top cop for his district, and he’s racking up bar complaints like he’s trying to earn a punch card. The only “special” in “special attorney” here is the kind you say when your cousin brings store-brand soda to the cookout.
So yeah, it’s going to get worse but the worse isn’t just loud, it’s structural. That’s why this reporting matters. Props to Meidas for digging in, and if you want to see how this same playbook has been run before and how it ends then I’ve been mapping it out here: www.xplisset.com
Trump Lawyer ADMITS She'd Rather Be Dumb & Pretty
MAGA: Make Attorneys Get Attorneys What is particularly striking is the STUPIDITY & INCOMPETENCE!
ALINA HABBA cut up vegetables in her kitchen & posted videos...HUH?
She represented Trump in one of the NY lawsuits he lost & posted a comment that she didn't have time to look up NEW YORK STATE STATUTES.
She 'befriended' a victim of Trump's property & misrepresented herself.
Don't forget her comment that she'd rather be pretty than smart because you can fake being smart:
https://youtu.be/mRRd_SfG3Bk?si=WBAJ7zVnYwyLxpi6
Same with JOHN SARCONE with his conspicuous lies & false allegations - he lives where?
It's interesting that his actions were conspicuous.
Daffy Don is appealing those decisions & what is lost in the weeds is that in order to appeal, he had to post BONDS which continue to accrue interest payments. The source of the BONDS was controversial at the time.
The Trump Org has an overseer to prevent any sale or transfer of properties or excess expenditures.
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